Quiz: How Well Do You Know Basic Facts About the Moon?: HowStuffWorks

How Well Do You Know Basic Facts About the Moon?

SCIENCE

By: Allison Lips

6 Min Quiz

Image: narvikk/E+/Gettyimages

About This Quiz

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. In July 1969, Kennedy's dream was made a reality. However, the Apollo program was not the first space program intent on exploring the moon.

Since the 1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union had been launching probes and rovers into space in the hopes of collecting data about the moon. Despite several previous attempts to get an object to the moon, it wasn't until 1959 that Luna 2 became the first object to reach the surface of the moon.

The United States would not have its first successful attempt to reach the moon until Feb. 2, 1964. On that date, Ranger 6 impacted the moon's surface, but was unable to send back the images that were part of its mission because the camera system short-circuited.

Once the United States had some success sending objects to the moon, it focused on sending humans there. From 1969 to 1972, there were six manned missions on the moon. Since then, the United States, Russia, China and Japan have continued with unmanned exploration of the moon.

If you think you're an expert on the moon, take this quiz and prove it!

What year did the United States send astronauts to the moon?

1956

1960

1965

1969

While Eisenhower approved the United States' first space missions, it was John F. Kennedy who challenged the nation to send a man to the moon before the end of the 1960s. One of his quotes was "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

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In terms of all the moons in the solar system, Earth's is the what?

Largest

Smallest

3rd Smallest

5th largest

The moon is called the moon because at the time it was discovered humans didn't know that other planets had moons. In 1610, Galileo Galilei discovered four of Jupiter's moons.

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What on Earth does the moon affect?

Volcanoes

Clouds

Tides

Traffic

The moon moderates Earth's wobble on its axis. This results in a relatively stable climate.

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How far away from Earth is the moon?

170,252 miles

241,976 miles

500,000 miles

1,245,246 miles

The moon has a radius of 1,079.6 miles. It is also moving away from Earth about an inch per year.

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How many days does it take the moon to make a complete orbit around Earth?

7 Earth days

14 Earth days

27 Earth days

60 Earth days

Even though the moon makes a complete orbit around Earth every 27 days, it appears to orbit the Earth every 29 days. The discrepancy is a result of the Earth rotating on its axis and orbiting around the sun at the same time as the moon moves.

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What are the dark features of the moon called?

Maria

Highlands

Oceans

Rivers

Maria are basins that were filled with lava billions of years ago. The different areas of the moon are composed of various rocks that differ in age and composition.

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How hot does the moon get when the sun is beating down on it?

50 degrees

100 degrees

200 degrees

260 degrees Fahrenheit

The moon's atmosphere is so thin that it doesn't provide much protection from the sun. However, when the moon is in darkness, the temperature drops to -280 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Which country formed the Luna program to get a closer look at the moon?

Soviet Union

United States

China

India

Luna consisted of 17 robotic missions. It included the first look of the far side of the moon. The program lasted from 1956 to 1976.

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What was the name of the first American spacecraft to orbit the moon?

Lunar Orbiter 1

Voyager I

Spirit

Opportunity

Lunar Orbiter 1 gave humans the first view of Earth from the Moon. It launched on August 10, 1966. the mission lasted 80 days, ending on October 29, 1966.

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How many humans have stepped foot on the moon?

2

6

10

12

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon. The Apollo program ended in 1972.

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Which ocean did Apollo 11 splash down in?

Atlantic

Pacific

Indian

Arctic

On July 24, 1969, Apollo 11 returned to Earth. The three men inside the command module were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.

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How many manned Apollo missions were there?

3

5

9

11

Of the 11 manned Apollo missions, six landed on the moon. On Dec. 11, 1972, the last manned moon landing took place.

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What was the name of the Lunar Module that carried Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong to the moon?

What was the name of the only rocket to transport humans beyond low Earth orbit?

Challenger

Atlantis

Saturn V

Discovery

Saturn V was used to launch Apollo missions and the Skylab space station. The version used on the Apollo missions had three stages. The third stage pushed the spacecraft toward the moon.

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Where did Apollo 11 land on the moon?

Sea of Tranquility

Sea of Knowledge

Sea of Showers

Sea of Serenity

The Sea of Tranquility was one of 30 sites NASA considered.When deciding where to land on the moon, NASA took smoothness, slope, the amount of propellant required, and how they would approach the site into consideration.

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What was the name of the last manned mission to the moon?

Apollo 1

Apollo 17

Apollo 20

Apollo 25

On Dec. 7, 1972, Apollo 17 became the last manned space mission to the moon. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, Ron Evans and Eugene Cernan were the three men on board the spacecraft.

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Jim Lovell was the commander on which ill-fated Apollo mission that had to abort its moon landing?

Apollo 1

Apollo 6

Apollo 11

Apollo 13

John Swigert, Fred Haise and James Lovell flew on Apollo 13. The mission was supposed to explore the Fra Mauro area, but an explosion changed NASA's plans. The landing site was reassigned to Apollo 14.

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Which country has not landed a rover on the moon?

United States

Soviet Union

China

India

The two Russian rovers were called Lunokhod 1 and Lunokhod 2. The Chinese lunar rover is called Yutu.

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When does a lunar eclipse occur?

When the dark side of the moon becomes visible

When the Sun passes between the Earth and the Moon

When the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon

When the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth

A specific geographical location experiences a lunar eclipse approximately every 2.3 years. The same location will experience a lunar eclipse once every 375 years.

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Which of the following is not a phase of the moon?

New Moon

Crescent

Mature Moon

Last Quarter

The lunar phases are new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter and waning crescent. The third quarter is also called the last quarter moon.

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What is the leading theory about the moon's origin?

It's a wayward planet that got sucked into Earth's atmosphere.

A Mars-sized object collided with Earth billions of years ago

The moon broke off from Earth.

NASA doesn't know.

NASA believes that approximately 4.5 billion years ago a Mars-sized object hit the Earth. The resulting debris formed a natural satellite. At the time, the moon was in a molten state and about 100 million years it hardened.

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What is the radius of the moon's core?

10 miles

149 miles

1,100 miles

5,042 miles

The moon's core is made up of iron. It is surrounded by a liquid iron shell that is about 56 miles thick.

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What was humanity's first attempt to send a spacecraft to orbit the moon?

Pioneer 0

Pioneer 1

Voyager 1

Voyager 2

Pioneer 0 is also known as Able 1. It was humanity's first attempt to send a spacecraft outside Earth's orbit. Pioneer 0's launch predates NASA.

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Where did the Apollo missions launch from?

Kennedy Space Center

Vanderberg air Force Space

Kodiak Launch Complex

Mojave Air and Space Port

Kennedy Space Center is located on Merritt Island. It was originally called Launch Operations Directorate.

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Which moon orbiter was launched on February 17, 2007?

Apollo 12

Lunar Orbiter 5

ARTEMIS

New Horizons

ARTEMIS stands for Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun. It is the first mission to orbit the points of the moon where the Earth and moon's gravity balance perfectly.

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Which mission was considered a dress rehearsal for Apollo 11?

Apollo 10

Juno

Atlantis

ARTEMIS

Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, and Eugene A. Cernan were the crew on Apollo 10. It launched from Kennedy Space Center on May 18, 1969.

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The moon's gravity is what of Earth's?

1/3

1/4

1/5

1/6

A person who weighs 132 pounds would weigh 22 pounds on the moon. However, their mass would remain the same.

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How many miles an hour does the moon travel around Earth?

100 miles

555 miles

1,650 miles

2,300 miles

As the moon rotates around Earth, it keeps the same side of the toward Earth. From Earth, only 60 percent of the moon can be seen. The dark side of the moon has only been photographed from space.

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How many hours did it take Apollo 11 to reach the moon?

24

50

72

120

Apollo 11 travel 240,000 miles to reach the moon. Television coverage of the landing was watched by 600 million people.

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What did Neil Armstrong say as he walked out of the Eagle?

Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.

The surface is fine and powdery. I can kick it up loosely with my toe. It does adhere in fine layers, like powdered charcoal, to the sole and sides of my boots

We would like to give special thanks to all those Americans who built the spacecraft; who did the construction, design, the tests, and put their hearts and all their abilities into those craft.

That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

Neil Armstrong insisted that he actually said "That's one small step for a man." Communication experts have analyzed the recordings and are still unsure about what exactly he said.

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Which craft was the first to reach the surface of the moon?

Luna 1

Luna 2

Apollo 7

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

Luna 2 was sixth Soviet attempt to send an object to the moon. However, it was the first successful attempt from any nation.

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What was the English name of Japan's first lunar probe?

Pioneer 3

Luna 3

Ranger 7

Hiten

Hiten made 11 flybys of the Moon. On April 10, 1993, it was purposely crashed into the Moon.

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